Multi-component food products, such as sandwich products, are often prepared and eaten the same day or within a few days to avoid storage issues and loss of organoleptic properties of a freshly-made sandwich upon storage. When a sandwich product is prepared and stored for an extended period of time, e.g., more than a few days, there is typically undesirable moisture and flavor migration between the bread of the sandwich and the inner sandwich components, or garnish/toppings, of the sandwich. The inner sandwich components that have higher water activities than adjacent components or the bread components can have moisture that tends to migrate towards the lower water activity food component. During an extended period of storage time, this moisture migration can result in a sandwich that is not as organoleptically pleasing due to issues such as bread becoming soggy, sandwich components losing their texture or crispness, sandwich components losing their flavor, and the like.
As a result, sandwich products that are meant to be stored for an extended period of time have been packaged in ways to try and minimize such moisture and flavor migration between the various components of the sandwich. One such example is to individually and separately package each component of the sandwich, such that the cheese is packaged or wrapped individually and separately from the meat which is also separately packaged, while the bread or bun component is also packaged separately from all of the inner sandwich components. While this may result in preventing the moisture and flavor migration between the components during the extended storage period, it can require the consumer to have to unwrap each component individually and to assemble the sandwich themselves before eating. This can require multiple, time-consuming preparation steps on the part of the consumer, e.g., opening all of the individually wrapped packages and then assembling all of the sandwich components into a sandwich.
Another aspect is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,012,971 and 5,213,256, which consist of a preassembled sandwich or burger that is packaged in a container, such as a Styrofoam hinged container having a top half and a bottom half, where the top half of the bun or top bread component is contained inside the top part of the container, and the bottom bun or bottom bread component is contained inside the bottom part of the container. A card or insert is placed between the top and bottom bread components, such that it separates the top and bottom half of the container, and is positioned such that it can separate two inner sandwich components, such as separating a cheese and a meat component. When the container is in a closed position, the sandwich or burger is in a pre-assembled state therein with the insert or card placed between the two inner sandwich components essentially creating two separate compartments within the container.
Thus, the insert card creates a separately packaged top half of the sandwich, and a separately packaged bottom half of the sandwich. When the consumer is ready to consume the sandwich, they simply grasp the insert or card, preferably it will have a tab for grasping, and pull the insert in a horizontal direction to remove it from the container and from between the sandwich halves. However, the insert only divides the sandwich into two halves, without segregating the inner sandwich components completely. Only one surface or side of an inner sandwich component is segregated from an adjacent surface or side of another sandwich component; the other side of the inner sandwich component is still in contact with the remainder of the sandwich on its half of the container, such that moisture and flavor migration issues can still be prevalent on that half or side of the sandwich. Furthermore, certain food components like cheese, for example, are sticky, i.e., can have a high static coefficient of friction, thus preventing removal of the divider by a simple sliding motion, or causing the food ingredient, such as cheese, to stick to the divider and to be pulled with it.
Still another variation is disclosed in International Publication Number WO 2004/086886, for a package used for retaining the filling of a roll, where the filling can be in a semi-solid state and it can be runny and difficult to maintain in a bread roll. A cavity can be made in the roll into which the packaged filling is placed, where the package can be shaped to compliment the cavity in the roll. Once the consumer is ready to consume the product, pressure is applied to one end of the package (i.e., the end that is visible and extends out from the opening in the roll), such as by squeezing the package, in order to push the filling out through an exit opening or hole in the opposite end. Once the filling has been pushed into the cavity of the roll, then the consumer must pull the remaining package out from the roll. Despite this food product being relatively pre-assembled, the method of removing the package and squeezing the filling into the cavity of the roll as the package is being removed creates an additional step for the consumer in assembling the sandwich, can be difficult to properly execute, and can be messy. Furthermore, the filling is essentially being pushed or squeezed out of the package.